
Qass EfrSl. 



Book »T^5S 



4^3 



Mr 



©peeoli of 

HON. A. G. KIDDLE, 

OF OHIO, 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES FEB. 28th, 1863, 
ON THE BILL TO INDEMNIFY THE PHESIDENT. !^! 



The President— His Personale— Must be Sustained— The 

Late Elections, and what they Decided— The 

Democratic Party, its Position, &c. 



The Bill and the Course of the Demo- 
crats UPON THE "War Measures. 

Mr. RIDDLE. Mr. Speaker, the bill 
nominally before the House is known as 
the indemnification bill. The latitude of 
general debate, however, congressionally, 
permits a discussion of everything else 
under the sun and " within the four seas," 
and I shall avail myself of this permission 
to say very little of the measure nominally 
before the House, with the design of say- 
ing some last words, before I take leave of 
the public service with which I have been 
identified on this floor. 

The times themselves are exceptional, 
and we must resort to exceptional reme- 
dies. This measure, under any other cir- 
cumstances, would be the most extraordi- 
nary ever considered in Congress. It is 
nothing more than to indemnify the Ex- 
ecutive and his agents for doing acts that 
not only find no warrant in our statutes, 
but are in opposition to the whole spirit of 
our laws. Whoever has listened to the 
speeches of gentlemen in opposition, might 
suppose that the Presideiit was the most 
unscrupulous usurper that ever oppressed 
a people, and that the majority on this floor 
were in conspiracy to betray into his 
hands the last shadow of human rights. — 
Nobody would learn from them that we 
were in the midst of any remarkable con- 
vulsions. They are br'itai in their assaults 
upon the Executive, and fierce in denounc- 
ing, us. The Housa resounds constantly 
with their mourning eloquence as they de- 
pict the sufi"erings of the few whom the 
Government, for its own safety, has some- 
what rudely dealt with ; but what mortal 
has heard . them denounce the rebels, sr 
what voice of theirs has joined the great 
anthem of anguish that swells through the 
land over our own lost in battle, or who 



have perished in hospitals, or who now 
sit in mourning darkness in desolated 
homes. And it seems almost necessary to 
remind gentlemen who dwell on the indj^- 
vidual griefs of their favorites, that our 
great mother is torn with life-throes, and 
that these visitations of which they com- 
plain arc reluctantly, regretfully made, 
that she may live ; that these lesser ills, 
some of which arc doubtless in themselves 
unmerited, must, nevertheless be endured 
for the safety of the whole ; and that, in 
any event, the openly declared loyal, have 
not, will not, and cannot suffer by these 
summary acta ; that in the opinion and 
judgment of the governing majority these 
acts were and are necessary and wise ; 
and that it is expedient to make that dec- 
laration in the potent form of law. 

It is idle to mine back into the buried 
lore of old, rude times, and dig up prece- 
dents for our observance and guidance 
noAV, or to nicely regard the rights of per- 
sons and things, whether they grow out of 
men's natural rights or owe their being to 
civil polity. When the great source of the 
protection of all rights is threatened with 
destruction, of wh&t avail would be the 
writ of habeas corpus and trial by jury if 
the great fountain of remedial justice was 
to pei-iah ? These rights, so inestimable, 
are only suspended by the hand of inexor- 
able danger, to be restored in full vigor 
when that passes by. No sir ; we are in 
the midst of an era in which we ma^ke 
precedents; we cannot now follow old 
ones. And yet those examples from our 
old British history are most valuable ; for 
they show us our ancestors, in the midst 
of new and great perils, calmly and wise- 
ly judging of their own needs, and who 
boldly and unhesitatingly applied to them 
such remedies as they found at hand, with- 
out reference to precedents. These rich 



examples will b« lost on us if, in these 
fearful limes, we do net roikch forth our 
hands and pluck from cartk, B«ft, aud 
heaven, the readiest meaua forour deliTer- 
ancc. 

!>■' • «o cTerj other 

w . I Deinocriild 

on ■ ' . ' ,' ^iHBure u« that 

thej *i«} uol opf^ncvi lo ilio war. 1 prtty 
gentlemen to cxamiue \viih a liKli- cure 
their aoiu:il position. 1 call uo auOieH, de- 
nounce noboJy as dislojil. 1 have karned 
the didercncu Lciwecu ttren^th undcourse 
•xpreanioae, and ftiots are niorc puni^eut 
than a1 use. These genlltncii ui^sure us 
that ih£j arc aoi oijpoM:d lu tho wur but only 
to o»* poli<T^ of tno war. They do not 
oppose the Governuicut, but only the 
admiuirtralion (.f tba Governincnt. The 
QoTern.Tieni is oqo thing, and ii.s ad- 
uinieUMllon another. The mle has 
change !. lu General Jacksuu'a time he 
was tho Gorerbment. I think I can un- 
derstand the JilTor^oce between <he Got- 
crnmeui and the aJmlListration of it. In 
the abhtract, the one isa niachinc btanJing 
Blil), and the oilier tlio b.kme luacliine in 
n«doii; and how jcu ^-an oppose the mo- 
tion of tho machine without opposing the 
machiDerj, is a question f<>r Democratic 
cosnista. 

Not opposed to liie war i I self? How 
comes ir, then, that theso gentlemen, as a 
party, invariably oppose every measure 
for ii<: profcccutiou ? In favor of the war ? 
How, then, docs it happen that they can 
novor lind anything in any measure to 
carry it ou that tlicy can support? We 
are unf.>rtuna{9, indeed, that in these two 
years, amid the variety of our measures, 
we have never yet stumbled on one that 
coulil command their support us a party. 
And s'Jll more stranjie is it, that as they 
are ardently iu favor of a vigorous prose- 
cotijn of the war, and as we have never 
yet brought forward the right measures 
for that purpose, that no one of them has 
ever in all theso dubious times proposed a 
single measure to promote (he war; not 
-one. This is amazing. They are for the 
■war, but thay luivo no plan, no policy, no 
scheme, no moasuie, no anythinp to push 
it forward ; and if we had acted with them, 
Mr. Davis would have made a conquest of 
the v/Lole Unitod Stales months ago. 

Aubtber equally remarkable thing is, 
that Bv a parly these genilemen find every 
one of our ]iropoBed measures unconsliiu- 
tioaal. f-'trang'>, is It not, that wo never 
en,n hn constitutional? Lut we are not, 
and we never hhall be ho long as we urge 
forward thia war. 1h it, indeed, true 
that the C ttstilulion was go ingeniously 
framed that every meuHuro for the common 
•afoty ilnds no warrant in that instru- 
laent '.' I pray iLrso coiKliluiional dootorn 
to ranMick tbeir vast learning on this hub- 
Jc«l, ainl show ufl one way, only one, in 
which we can ruin the rebels and savr 
enr*olve«. No, wir; gei.tlemen are deceiv- 
it. jr th< u)i»< '.vee and many of their people; 



I they mean to bj loyal and serve the coun- 
, try ; they think they do. They think they 
I aro only opposed to our policy and means 
for carrying on the war, when they are 
really, heart and houI, oppobcd to the war 
' itself. This was tlie logical con-equence of 
their position at the commencement of the 
war. All history shows, ancient andmod- 
, em, e.3pccially British and American his- 
tory, that the parly in opposition to the 
( Qoverument when a war bieaks out is in- 
variably opposed to the war itself. I need 
, not refer to instHnces. There aro no ex- 
; oeptions, and the l)emocmcy has followed 
' the rule. Indeed they must oppose it, or 
j cease as a party ; aad that was too much 
! for their patriotism. These views fully 
explain their court^e during all this Con- 
( gress. They hiive opposed everything, 
and proposed notliiup. They argue against 
our measures till driven to the wall, when 
( they resort to tho euiiuently fundamental 
! democratic proc.-^sa of enlightening our 
j counsels, they stolidly sit down and put a 
great meuBUTO to the iutellectiml test of 
, I'hysical endurance, and make lliemselves 
I eacred lo lidicule. 

In this connection I wish only to remark 
that I belong to a p^riy that has never yet 
produced :•. traitor, or a °j'mpatliizer with 
one. This is no mcrit^ for a Republican 
cannot be a traitor. Let the country pon- 
der this. 

But what can be said of a party in whose 
members it is thou'^ht to be a rare distino- 
tion that they are merely patriotic; who,- 
to be true to the couiitry. must bo better 
than their parly, aud are loyal in spite of 
its teachings, and their iiolitioal associa- 
tions ? 1 am glad lo pay that on thia Hoor 
there are many such brave and noble men ; 
while the mass of their followers arc true, 
as the people ever are. 

TUE PEE8IDENT, UIS RKLATIONS TO THE WAB, 
CKITICISMS Oi" UIM, ETC. 

How easy it is to abuse, traduce, and de- 
nounce. That it requires neither wl*, 
grace or truth, is illustrated by the assaults 
of those gentlemen on the President. I 
shall enter upon no laudation of the Presi- 
dent, yet there are some words I deem it 
fitting now lor me to say iu reference to 
him. 

Sir, the Executive is the arm of tho peo- 
ple under our Ooustitulion. and with it 
only can we deal a blow upon the rebel- 
lion. He who would Ptrikelliat. save with 
this arm, strikes fully upon our own cause. 
Whoever strengtlicns this arm slrenglliens 
llio national cause ; whoever weakens it^ 
slreugthens the enemy. For the time be- 
ing the other branches of tho Government 
might well be in nheyancp, that all our en- 
ergies might go to swell tho mighty mus- 
cles of that arm. To save all, all must be 
risked. Yotj canuot separate the E.xecu- 
livo from the ptrtonaU ot tho President; 
and whatever delraclB from him personal- 
ly weakens the executive force, as what- 
ever elevates him gives it added strength. 



So that whatever shakea the confidence of 
the people, or any of them, in the capacity 
or integriiy of the Preaideut, by juai so 
much aids the rebellion, as that which 
strengthens confidence in him gives vigor 
to tho national cause. 

The President, without the people, and 
all of thorn, can no more conduct this war 
to & successful issue than can the people 
without him. Alone, no matter what are 
his personal qualities, he would be the 
feeblest driveller that ever perished under 
a great catastrophe, and the people must 
perish with him. With a united people he 
is irresistible, spite of mistakes and acci 
dents. A united people and President can 
control fate and compel success. They 
must stand together; and woe unutterable 
to the wretches whose words or deeds shftll 
separate them, from this it follows that 
if the President will not go with ns we 
must go with him. The freedom cf speech 
is the last franchise a free people will sur- 
render, and our millions will exercise it 
in the midst of no matter what calamities 
They will discuss the events and manage- 
ment of the war. It is their war, and the 
humblest of them has an interest in it 
equal to that of the first citizen, aad they 
must and may discuss his acts with a free 
and manly ken. But I submit if the just 
limit 01' criticism and manly debate has 
not been Ijrutally outraged in the fierce 
denunciations of the President by gentle- 
men on this floor, and which have been 
caught up and re-echoed by their partisan 
press? Sir, if these obscene revilers could 
gain credit with the masses, no power on 
earth could save ua from destruction, for 
they would shiver the only arm that must 
bring us safety. And so, too, I speak of 
the ceaseless tide of criticism — shall I call 
it? — that has deluged to drowning all the 
military operations of the Adrt)inifttration. 
Was this world ever before so enriched 
with such a quantity of such valuable com- 
mentary on the art of war, and by such 
masters — generals by instinct and the 
grace of Uod ? For a year and a half this 
luminous tide has swept over us; and will 
some mortal tell of some good, the least, 
that has waited upon the labors of these 
critics? What mistake has been avoided, 
what error retrieved, or what blunder re- 
deemed ? And yet what jealousies they 
have engendered, what factions they have 
built up, and what feuda they have embit- 
tered ! 

I pray gentlemen to remember that no 
general has been improved by denuncia- 
tion or made skillful by nbuse ; nor yet re- 
moved by this clamor, and never will be. 
But the confidence of subordinates has 
been shaken in a conimander, and the con- 
fidence of the people has been weakened 
in the President, fnr placing or retaining 
a general in command, when no two could 
agree upon a substitute or BuocesBor. 
These outspoken comments here and else- 
where have at teaat the merit of boldness; 
but what shall be said of that muttering, 



unmanly, yet swelling under-currcut of 
complaining criticism, that reflects upon 
the President, his motives and capacity, 
so freely and feebly indulged in by men 
having the public confidence? — whisper- 
ings and complainings and doublings and 
misgivings and exclamations and predic- 
tions. I have heard men complain that 
George ViTashiugton had died, as if untime-* 
ly, and feebly sigh for a return of Andrew 
Jackson to life. What can bo done with 
such puling drivelers ? Mea who have a 
morbid passion to exaggerate our misfor- 
tunes, and aggregate and riot in our cal- 
amities ; and who ave never so happy as 
when they can gloat over t)ie sum of our 
disasters, which tliey charge over to the 
personal account of the President. I am 
sick of this eTerlaEting cowardice and 
pallor, under reverses. Defeats must 
come, disasters must come, and still great- 
er ones, perhaps, and the end is not yet. 
These men would never ' have worked 
through the fir.st Revolution ; but that, as 
this will be, was achieved in spite of them. 
Sir, if we fail it will bo wholly because 
we are unworthy to succeed ; because we 
win not with our whole heart and energy, 
might, mind, and strength, give ourselves 
up wholly to this war a.? do the rebels; 
study its portent?, and obey its demands 
alone. The task it impo-^es is for our hu- 
man kind. Its work is the accumulated 
work of the dea;t centuries thrust upon 
our hands, and iia hope is the hope of all 
the ages to be born. If we doubt, assail, 
and cast down those who alone mu^it lead 
us, we might as well now slough into any 
infamy that men will call peace, or skulk 
behind the meditating scepter of no matter 
what despot, and forever hide our dishon- 
ored heads amid the ruins of our nation- 
ality. If any man here distrusts the Pres- 
ident, let him speak forth here, like these 
bad leaders, openly, and ao longer ofi'end 
the streets and nauseate places of common 
resort with their unv/crthy clamor. He 
may not have in excess that ecsiatic fire 
that makes poets and prophets and mad- 
men; be may not possess much of what 
we call heroic blood, th?.t drives men to 
stake priceless destinies on desperate ven- 
tures, and lose them; he may not in an 
eminent degree possess that indefinable 
something that school-boys call genius, 
that enables its poesesHor through 
new and unheard—of combinations 
to grasp at wonierful results, and that 
usually ends in failure ; or, if he possesses 
any or all of these qualities, they are 
abashed and subdued iu the presence of a 
danger that dwarfs giants and teaches pru- 
dence to temerity. Ho is an unimpas- 
sioned, cool, shrewd, spgacious, far-seeing 
man, with a capacity to form his own 
judgments, and a will to execute them ; 
and he postesses an integrity pure and 
simple as the white rays of light that play 
about tho Throne. It is this that h?i3 so 
tied the hearts and lovo of the people to 
him, that will not unloose in the breath of 



kU lbs demagogues in ih« laud. Ii is idle 
to c^^mpare hiiu wiih Wuiibiugton or Jiick- 
BOD. Like all exiraorlinarj uiea, he id au 
ori);inal, aud must aianl iu liis owu niche. 
Ue has as.tiduousl; studied the teachings 
of this war; has It'urnod its j:;ieai Itesoa ; 
and in full time ho uttered ita great word. 
Jle commits errors. . Who would have 
comoiiited fiwer .' Thii-k of the tierce and 
hungry demundi that iucessantly devour 
hiiu up. Ktiucmttr the n-peaied instances 
in our own lime when tht) able»i of our 
statostoen iu that chair, with cabinela of 
their choice, uud sustained by inajorilies 
in rongree.". in limes of fro'.ouud peace, 
have gone down, and tlieir administra- 
tions huve perished uuder the bare weight 
of the Government. 

And ihcn contemplate, if you can, in 
additior. to the burdens that have crushed 
"o many Mroug men, the fearful n-sponsi- 
bilities imposed u];on this m;in. 1» it not 
a ruarvel, a m6st living wonder, that he 
sustains ihem so well ? Let not the dis- 
Unt luuther, who has given up a loved one 
to fearful dc;i<h, think that the President 
docii rot eympathize wiih her sorrow, and 
would iioi have been glad, oh, hoT glad, to 
have so shaped events as to have spared 
the bacr\6ce. And let not fathers and 
mothers and wives anywhere think that 
aahe sees the long blue regimeiuaof brave 
and b^au'-iful ones mirching awiiy, step- 
pinp to the drum-boat, that he does not cou- 
tenjplite and feel his responsitulity as he 
thinks now many of them shiiU go to name- 
l^e grave.-, unmarked, save by the down- 
looking even of Qod'fi pitying iiugels. 

THE rOLICT OF THE WAR. 

Dot theae genllensen nov? donouuce the 
Prcsideat s policy of the war. Bir, I re- 
inembtr that olhe-s, too, ufled to complain 
ih9 fnuip way, and ju.^l a^ if th" President 
was responsible for it, and could furnish a 
policy lor the var. The war is greater 
than the i'retidcQl; gieater than the two 
iloujes of C' ngresa; gre.-.'er than the peo- 
ple, with tiio new Democracy llirown in; 
greater ihau nil togither, and controls 
ihem all, and dijtates its o<<'n policy; nnd 
woe l»i the men or party that will not heed 
il4i dictation. The House thought il could 
'.ontro! the war, and it goo l-oaturedly re- 
solved itHi'lf into tt re.Mpeoliiblo convention 
and p'lHst'd with almost unanimity the 
(>ritUnd<:u resolution, and it's getters-up 
H»id to :iM-mgelv(«s, 'that'll fix 'om : and 
it floated out on the popular bre ith like an 
.Ii It'ttf on the wind, and was lojt in 
•■M of forgctfult.fs.'j, DO more to be 
' "iw lure Vou might as well at- 
111 ends io tie down the 
.! foroea *.<t nature, nnd 
nd purpose of a new- 
' orn ' aiih jiiiky, u thus to atay nnd lon- 
'rol liie forces Ujat pro<luced this rovolu- 
tiop. 

These Df-mo^rats demand that the war 
muai bo ao oondaoUid ua least to aggravate 
ili* f<'o!ings of the rebels, and keep the 



way opea to a reconciliation. Well, sir, 
for a year and a half wo did conduct this 
war on precisely liieie jninciples, for this 
same purpose of keeping the way open. — 
Never since the lirst battle on earth 
was a war so forbearingly and tenderly 
carried on as is this on our part. — 
When the rebels etnote us on one cheek 
we turned to them the other also, got anoth- 
er blow, and seemed rather to liiie it. We 
guarded rebel property while the owners 
were ofFmurdering our people. The young 
sons of northern moibexs have stood 
through the chill long night to guard the 
dwelling witli the wife and children of 
one of these ''proud eensilive brothers," 
who stole back in the cild gray of the 
coming dawn, and »hct down on hi.s own 
doorbtone the young guardian of his home 
and hearth. Did not we turn our army of 
noble and educated youths into slavehimt- 
ers, and our officers into baying dogs, bail- 
itfs, and jailors, for their drivers? Have 
we not placed lines of sentinels around the 
fiields where they drove their chattels to 
toil, and pciven up to laslits and death the 
poor wretches who had served us with fi- 
delity ? Have we not guarded the whip- 
ping post and the auction-block'.' Our 
bayonets have forced the victims to beds of 
lust, and our soldiers were the sentinels 
at the doors of this hideous prostitution. — 
If there is any infamy that we did not 
commit to keep '• the way open,' thank 
God I am ignorant of it. W'hy, sir, the 
venerable gentleman from Kentucky far- 
thest . from me [Mr. Vi icklilTe] did noti 
complain of this mode of carrying on 
the war ; he whose notion of 'the 
Union as it was, and the Constitution 
as it is, ' seems to be a restoration of 
the runaways to the patriarchal lash and 
pious sale of the master. And during all 
these months tliese Democrats have stood 
holding out their arms and beseeching our 
brothers to return, otfering to compromise 
and be compromised in any way, to any 
extent, and on any terms; and they still 
occupy that mendicant position, noiwith- 
.standing they are spurned with scoftV and 
scorn by the rebels. 

And what were the results of thua car- 
rying on the war? The wandering S(ates 
have tinittd and soliditied, unde.- the gen 
tie prcMsure and opportunities of the war, 
into the consistency of a nation ; and from 
a few scaite.ed, half organized regiments, 
they confront as now with an army great- 
er than modern Kurope has ever seen; an 
army that would have walled Isapoleon 
(lUt of Russia, and that could have driven 
the Ru88ianP,Frcnch,Kngliah Turks and all 
cut of the (Crimea, or cat them, to their 
cartridge-boxes, in a week. And it was 
through otir mode of londucting the war 
only that the rebels have attained these 
proporiions. In how raui li longer time • 
would it have enalded them to achieve their 
pur»oBCP, pray ? Keep i lie way open ! Oh, 
there are some f >ols so sublime, that tke 
maxim permitting them to profit by cxpe- 



rience cannot reach them! Their folly 
mounts up to that awful crime that has no 
name, and can have no forgiveness. 

THE ELECTIONS, AND WHAT THEY DECIDED. 

But we are told that the scepter is al- 
ready passing from us, and the country is 
again drifting upon the wrecking rocks of 
Democracy. Were this so, it would seem 
but the ordinary result of the labors of the 
wo parties. The Republicans, as a party, 
have do^ne no act, spoken no word, to re- 
tain power in their hands. Their whole 
energy has been given to the cause of the 
country only, regardless of all possible 
political consequences to themselves. — 
Never in the world's history did a party 
so apply the knife to its own members, 
and 80 unsparingly lay bare the doings of 
its weak or wicked. And no party ever 
so boldly and detiantly thrust the weapons 
of assault into the hands of its enemies, 
and pointed out its own vulnerable places. 
And certainly no party ever so selfishly 
and wickedly traded in the calamities of a 
wretched country, for the sole purpose of 
stealing back the power it ha^ lost, as 
these leaders of Democracy. And they 
every day, on this floor, taunt us with 
their already achieved success; that we 
are already blasted with a popular mildew ; 
and we arc caricatured under the ghostly 
forms of corpses walking about the Cap- 
itol. 

My colleague from the capital district 
(Mr. Cox) early denounced us as contu- 
macious, because we did net vacate our 
seats aud abandon everything to the 
Jiands of the recently resurrected Demo- 
cracy, who came with the smell of the 
charnel-house and the odor of old corrup- 
tion upon them so strong that we may well 
doubt their return to fu,ll life. Sir, the 
Democracy have not secured the next Con- 
gress; they have not even elected a ma- 
jority of the next House. They will be 
fitronger, but they will be powerless save 
to mock and make mouths at fate, as they 
do here. Even if they were able to tear 
our laws from the statute-book, the energy 
of our legislation will have launched the 
country and its cause so far on the return- 
less tide of events as to place them beyond 
their reach. If the gentleman looks to 
the numerical vote of the free States, 
where parties only exist in a quasi normal 
condition, he finds a majority of over 
eighty- six thousand votes againtt the De- 
mocracy by the official count. And yet 
these elections are declared to be a con- 
demnation of the President and his policy ; 
of emancipation, confiscation, the aboli- 
tion of slavery in this capital, and I know 
not what beside. Sir, all they did or 
could accomplish was merely to designate 
who should fill the offices, to indicate who 
of the applicants should have the places. 

Sir, before an election can ar"oaat to a 
solemn judgment of the people upon the 
most grave and momentouG issues, it must 
be had afier the fullest and most complete 



hearing before tho whole people, all of 
whom must have an opportunity to pass 
upon them, and in a period of profound 
repose, favorable to reflection and decis- 
ion. Not one of these conditions attended 
these elections. 

1. There ne/er was any hearing, full or 
otherwi.se, before the whole people upon 
these issues. In many sections not a pc- 
litical speech was made, nor a paragraph 
published upon them. In my own section 
of Ohio, not a word, not a single word, for 
or against theee leading measures. Every- 
body of all parties acquiesced in them. 

2. An entire fifth, at least, of the voters 
were absent both from the argument and 
the decision of the cause. 

Who shall pretend (o say that the absent 
are concluded by this decision thus made 
in their absence, or Ihat any issue or 
principle could be settled by this fraction 
of E. tribunal ? It could and did elect men 
to office, and nothing more, no matter how 
exhaustive may have been the discussion, 
how long the deliberation, or how solemn 
the decision. 

3. The fact of the absence of this im- 
mense mass of the people, itself proves the 
presence of a gigantic disturbing cause, 
which rendered deliberation and judgment 
impossible. 

Wc were at war. The absent were in 
the field, in camp, on the march, in battle, 
pursuing and being pursued ; in hospitals 
nursing, or being nursed; dead, burying 
the dead, or being burled. We were in a 
huge war against treason for the nation's 
life. The nation's map was torn asunder; 
a huge ragged gulf, from the Atl3.ntic tD 
Mexico, parting' the life arteries, was 
growing wider and v/ider. We were try- 
ing to grapple the fragments together with 
our naked hands, bridging the chasm with 
the live bodies of our devoted people, or 
filling it up with their red and mangled 
remains. Our ears were filled with the 
roar and clangor of battle, its shout and 
shriek and groan. 

The States were turned into great re- 
cruiting stations, into extemporized camps. 
Hundreds of fiery-tongued orators were 
urging the strong and brave to the field. 
Hundreds of thousands were unclasping 
the staying arms of love from their necks 
and rushing to battle and death ; and 
partings and sobs and tears were through 
all the land. Not a living human heart 
but was moved as it never was before, and 
went out to contemplate, or stood still to 
feel and agonize in the presence of this 
fearful calamity. In the midst of these 
scenes came the elections. Save the think- 
ing few, and the designing many — who 
caved for them ? Who of the masses who 
questioned every breeze for the result of 
th..' fight, and who trembled at every rumor 
for the safety of the loved, or who went in 
innumerable mourning pro cessions to take 
leave of the departing regiments — who of 
these would know of or care for the issues 
that ar/aited their decision by what seem- 



6 



by those same Democrats, under tlie same 
leader, by ten thoussud. 

if this election in Ohio settled anything 

but the offices, it was a condemnation 

by tho Democracy of that State of 

(if the Crittenden resolution. And strange 

or principle ^^P^'.^^^f. J^, "' i ^a may seem, my colleague, [Mr. Cox,] 

uleJ by the people in that elcc- ^ ^«;^^^^^^\i eulogizer of this everlasting 

m\ • , .». . .v« !.« >,t,n,1rpd IhniTs- ' resolution, T?ft3 among the foremost in pro- 

Think you that the two linn'lrcdU.ous_-,ics.^^ ^^.^ condemnation; and stranger 



•d to them at that time the trivial proccBS 
of the ballof "ITjey would not know ot 
them or care for them; and that man is 
» wretch boyond rcJemptioD. tr ft fool five 
times dn.incd, who aSBorls that nnjtl ing 
in tho way of principle or poVo/^ was 
oould be ec 



and who 'then volunteored. ruHhcd toarms ^<:;;^f^^^:;:^"::Z;r,,^--^ 
to condemn a war .hat they jven to fig^^^^^ ^^^^ ^^^^^^^ was tugging 

to condemn a policy {^r '"•'^ff w" Xon — "" .idin^rthat gentleman in this labor 
their blood, or to rrbuke R President ^^^.on 
they obeyed from love and prO'omi.J '"'■■f 
t)ect? Condemn euanclpation ? Why die 



their blood, or to rebuke . President ^ ^-m ! away ai^i^ng tha^t g^^^^^ ^.^ ^^^ ^.^^^ 

misconceived, misdelivered brat 



they volunteer 7 Or think you that the fa- 
thers and brolhoM who gave thcte up to 
peril, intended by their votes to condemn 
ihemselvc?, as tho murderers of their pous 
for thus sending them 



d ifeott 



them 

and kindred 



Sir, there has been another election in 
Ohio ;' a final and silencing reply to all 
this clamor of my colleague; an election 
the fulfillment of an old promise, tind full 
of the promise of a new prophecy. Two 



, , , . , f .k;^ ^r,ii^„v 'vears airo the people of that State elected 

strife aud death xn support of^this pdicy^. , y'-J^^^gf^^",,,,, ^^ il^jo^ty of which were 



■What man has here presented a 



members of the Democratic party. With- 



Btrance against ^-^IZ^^^'^^^^^^^^^^^^ ^ame^Legisla- 

tho8uepens.oaofthewrtofA.«6.'rc.r/>,i.^ mine ^f whose members still 

Who has petitioned for ho repeal ^i^^_^ ^Z\rr..rA^.. re-elected to the Senate of 



confi.-oation act, tho tax law, or tho re-es 
tabliahmeiit of slavery in this capital? 

TIUS ELECTIONS IS OHIO. 



are Democrats, re-elected to the Senate 
the United States Beujamin Franklin 
Wade. In the teeth of these elections and 
the light shed upon them by the iUumina- 



The electiops cannot in any way be ta- ; ting speeches of my colleagues, they seized 
ken 88 ft condemnation of tho Republicans upon that embodiment of the intensest en- 
fts a pHriy, for as a di:^tinctive party, on'ergiesof the radical forces that are now 
their own platform, they were not in the grasping at the throat of this rebellion, 
contest anywhere. In Ohio they at once and hurled him back into the Senate as the 
abandoned their parly organization and haughty respocse of a mighty State to their 
fraterniicd wi'h everybody and every- childish clamor. What do you suppose 
thing that stood by the common caus".— now our State thinks of emancipation and 
Thev asked nothing for themselves, lor confiscation and the arrest of traitors ? Do 
no placet" for favorite"? ; and in the weak- you say to me that this Legislature was 
ness of their magnanimity they thrust the elected two years ago? I reply that, one 
State b«\ck into the bands from which the year ago it refused to elect Mr. Wado, and 
people had rescued it, and to which, under ' that it was only their estimation of those 
ordinary circumstances, they would never great measures and the events that have 
have again oomraitted it. They disregard- ; pprung into life siuce, that enabled the 
ed the sacrifice, tho labor, the unselfish de- 1 Democrats of that body to overcome preju- 
Totion of an able, pure, and patriotic Exec- 1 dices strong as life, and rise to this great 
utive who had faced the first gush of tho j act, an act that seals Ohio to emancipation 
fltorro' and whose efTorte had placed Ohio and its kindred measures. It is the recoil, 
in the van with her foremost sisters; and the reaction iu Ohio, that re-elected Mr. 
thev put at the head of affftirs a lifo-long Mr. Wade. 

THB DEMOCRATIC PAHTT AND THK EEBKL- 



opponent, who had been twice rejected by 
the people for that high ofl'-ce. The Union 
Convention, composed mainly of Republi- 
cans, that made this nomination in 18tJl, 
plpccd this Democratic candidate for Go/- 
ernor on the Crittenden resolution— so of- 
ten referred to here as the perfect scheme 
of salvation— BH their State platform.— 
Against this candidate, on that platform, 
some of these same Democ.atic gentlemen, 
under the head of my colloague, [Mr. Val- 
landighani,] rallied tho l)euiocraoy, simple 
and unregencrated, and they cast against 
them over fifiy thousand voles. Be it re- 
membered tlial this v^as before the inaugu- 
ration of inesc measures, now said to be 
condemned. Those votes were against Ibo 
war and the Crittenden rcBoh.lion. At the 
last elcctioc, the enrno Union party placed 
conservative candidates on the saine Crit- 
tenden resolution, and they were beaten 



LION. 

The evils of this war and their origin 
are charged upon us. My colleague, [Mr. 
Cox,] in tho speech referred to, aggregated 
the ills that have overtaken the country 
siuce the advent of the Republican power 
under fourteen bloody heads, precisely as 
if they were to be charged to our account; 
as if our very presence in the inidet of 
peace and beauty had invoked t'jcia from 
the heavens above and conjure I them from 
tho earth below. I have heard of a disease 
among men called bronze. Its principal 
Hymplom is an inteaso brassincss of the 
face. Here is a case of bronzo. It 
seems to me, also, iliat sevc-al other gen- 
tlemen over there have it more or Ush se- 
vere, and iiiony of ihe caiics ara badly com- 
plicated with another prevailing disorder. 



In the spring of 1857 a democratic Ad- 
ministration succeed one equally Demo- 
cratic. A Democratic President, Demo- 
cratic CongresSjDemocratic Supreme Court, 
■with a Democratic Cabinet at home and 
Democratic Ministers abroad. The army 
was commanded by Democratic Generals, 
and the navy obeyed Democratic orders. 
Everything was Democratic; and the suc- 
ceeding four years was a saturnalia of De- 
mocracy. Its principles as illualrated in 
these days, reigned and worked none but 
their legitimate results. No provisions of 
the Constitution; no scruples of consci- 
ence; no doubt of morality; no question 
of the public good; none of national glory; 
no regard for opinion or the voice of after 
history, intervened to check or chango these 
inevitable results, and never in the world's 
history was the descent of a great nation 
BO fatal and so rapid, as ours, nor a na- 
tional calamity so mournful and so pro- 
found ; and none certainly was ever so 
wholly and entirely due to the unaided ef- 
forts, the wide, deep, and measureless de- 
pravity of those who worked the govern- 
mental processes. Disorder was not con- 
fined to one branch of the public service, it 
pervaded the whole j not limited to subor- 
dinates, to bureaus, and departments, but 
the three great co-ordinate branches of the 
Government were disorganized and de- 
bauched, with scarce the form of adminis- 
tration left. The virus was not merely 
circulating in a few narrow channels, but 
under a malignant poison the framework 
of the Government itself was dissolving, 
and its foundations crumbling away. The 
Constitution was unequal to sustain the 
weight of ruins, and the States themselves 
dropped off dead and rolton— wrenched away 
by these Democratic hands. Such a state 
was reached that the only remedy possible 
was a recurrence to first principles, and an 
appeal to the untouched life and love of the 
people. 

But who was there here with recognized 
power to make that appeal? The judges 
of the Supreme Court, in a frenzy, tore 
the national ermine from their shoulders, 
and fled, howling fierce blasphemies and 
treason against the life of the nation. 
Whole delegations in these two houses left 
their seats to execute the conspiracy they 
had concocted here, and ruFhed forth to 
lead armies hither to trample out the little 
vitality that their strangling hands had 
left in the nation's heart. In the Ex<^cu- 
tive Mansion still sat a feeble old man 
amid the wreck of fallen faculties and the 
debris of a not over virtuous life ; puling 
and driveling in helpless imbecility ; blind 
and weak, unknowing and uuca,ring, in 
the hands of the giant criminals of his 
Cabinet, who had turned the national pal- 
ace into a cave of conspirators and mur- 
derers against the national honor and ex- 
istence. And when the time drew near 
for the Executive elect to assume his du- 
ties, for the security of his lifs he was 
obliged to disguise his person and steal to 



tho capital in the night, like a fugitive, 
amid the jeers of these same gentlemen. 

During all this time, tho loading gentle- 
men on your right, who now charge these 
ills upon us, who charge us with a daily 
violation of the Constitution, and who 
stand here to thwart and hinder the Presi- 
dent, who alone is armed with power to 
crush this rebellion — these gentlemen oc- 
cupied the same seats, were members of 
the same Democratic party, brothers of the 
same political litter with the conspirators, 
seeing all these thing3, and in daily and 
nightly intercourse with the plotters and 
doers of them, with the interests of Amer- 
ican citizens and the responsibilities of 
American Representatives; and yet, dur- 
ing all that v/retched time, not a man of 
them — not a single man — uttered a word 
of dissent, reproof, or reproach to the con- 
spirators, nor a whisper of warning or an 
admonition to the people. Through all 
that fearful time, as day by day the treason 
was more clearly developed and more 
boldly avowed, and as one miscreant after 
another hissed his poisoned philippic 
against his country, end derided and de- 
fied its power to prevent or punish his 
treason, these men sat here as mute as 
Memnon, in whom no sun-stroke could 
awake a response. From them came not 
the slightest effort to prevent tho catastro- 
phe — no law to restrain, no resolution to 
stay. So far from seeking to prevent or 
hinder the rebellion, they one and all de- 
nied all power to do either. So far 
from attempting to pi'event a dissolution of 
the Union, one of their leaders, with the 
consert of their silence, proposed and ad- 
vocate a dismemberment. And yet these 
minions of the traitors, whose proudest 
achievements were to win some note of 
approval, some word of commendation from 
their patrons and masters, charge us as 
the authors of these ills, and are now the 
. only true patriots alive. 

Oh ! I know that gentlemen, after two 
yea -s, make swift haste to disclaim all 
sympathy with the dismemberment scheme 
of their asscciate, and I take them at their 
wo^d, as congressionriUy bound to do. — 
But, 81 r, when that project was brought 
forward and advocated by its author, on 
that fearful day when tho Union was put 
to the rack, and its thews and sinews were 
cracking like the crack of doom under the 
awful strain, these gentlemen eat by and 
gave it the assent and approbation of their 
silence. Not a word of dissent nor a token 
of reproof escaped from one of them. They 
had predicted a dissolution of the Union 
as a result of our success in the last Pres- 
identid election ; and God knows it is not 
their fault that the prophecy is not ful- 
filled. 

I know, sir, that when the shock at Sum- 
ter came, it hushed these gentlemen into 
silence and seeming patriotism. They 
were as much am.ized as their old allies 
were, at the reoults North ; a united peo- 
ple standing with hands outstretched for 



weapons, and ilemanJing to be led against apt illustrations; he shall be fairlj met 
the traitors. Vou roinember the course of with all the arins and weapons of a fair, 
IheBo gentlemen at the extra session : phil- honoriihlo, and manly warfare, and he may 
lipics fierce and bitter against the Presi- encounter indignation that will scorch, 
dent and his policy, and not a word of rep- sarcasm that will tliiy alive, and wit that 
rehonsion of the 'Tel>el3 in arms. And j will sting todeath. Heshall be met. And 
then how sedulously and industriously j as the gentleman was making that speech, 
they set about di?ging up and jralvaniiing ! there came ominous responsiye mtirmurs 
the buried skekton uf their pirty ; gcing ' from the galleries all around this Hall, and 
among the people with phiiras and fiaudu- I the gentleman s friends demanded that 
lent pretenses, and returning at tlio recent thej' be cleared. Sir, when the gentleman 



session with more and bitterer speeches, 
and then among the people, re-organizing 
their old party, and lubricating and re- 
pairing its old machinery, ami pu'tinp 
forth its numoa and cries— and for what? 
Can any man tell me for what? What 
need had the country that could be best 
.«>erved by their party ? Their only pur- 
pose is amid thei-e calamitie.s to steal back 
the power tlioy liad lost, regardless of con- 
Be'incnces. TLe Itepublican organization 
V, a-* abandoned, lind its hosts, united with 
all men of all parties for the one purpose 
of sustaining the Government, became a 
party of and for the Ooverrmcnt. And 
these gentlemen havo banded together, not 
to sustain the Government — that would 
place them with us — but to oppose and war 
upon this J. arty of the Government to put 
it down. The rebels strike at the Govern- 
ment in the field, and these leaders strike 
at it hero; and yet they do not oppose the 
Government — not they. T do not care for 
words. When wo remember the oour.sc of 
these ^'ontlemen during the incipient stages 
of the rubellion, and when we now see one 
set of the same men at open war with the 
Government, and the other in open opposi- 
tion to it, pursuing the same end by ditfer- 
cnt means only, that is the end of argument. 

VAtLANMCH-lJl's APPEAL TO THE PEOPLE. 

But, sir, I must yield the floor to other 
gentlemen. I wif-li to say one word furth- ' 
er. My learned and astute colleague, ( Mr. 
Vallan<ligham,) one of the ablest gcutle- 
mtn upon this floor, snys, " Why not meet 
us before the people?' I tell my col- 
league, with the frank o.ndor of a man 
that meets eveiy responsibility, that he 
thuU 1,0 met before the peoide. 

Mr. Vallandigham— Ihopemy colleague 
will bo aide • • • 



is met before the people, there will be no 
rule that will clear the galleries. When 
the shout of just condemnation sv/ells out, 
the galleries will clear the House. 

And I shonld like to know, sir, what 
that other colleague of mine (.Mr. White) 
meant towards the cloee of Lis speech of 
the other evening, when he said that from 
his district " there should be no man-steal- 
ing" under that bill, (the Conscript bill). 
What could the gentleman mean? Clearly 
notthal which his cool and sober judgment 
will now recognize as the true line of con- 
duct, but an expression into which lie was 
hurried by feverish excitement, the hidden 
source of which he was, perhaps, not quito 
conscious of. Man-stealing! Sir, when a 
great and sufl'ering nation, almost dis- 
crowned, comes with the emblem of its 
glory, its old flig which has lloated rent 
and lorn on so many fields, and seeks its 
own born children to come to its rescue, 
he calls its man-stealing. But wben some 
panting fugitive, huated with horn and 
hound and dog, lies nnivering and lorn, 
the gentleman finds ample authority f«r 
that in the Constitution and its everlast- 
ing compromises, as well ps in the eternal 
fitness of things ; but when the nation 
comes to claim her children for her own 
defense with drum-beat and banner, that, 
in the gentleman's vocabulary, is man- 
stealing, is it? 

No matter how we may lash ourselves 
into unthhil<ing expression, the people 
themselves cannot long remain passive 
and unknowing. Sometimes acting on a 
plane above logical deduction, sometimeK a 
little below theplane of intelligeniinstinct, 
they invariably work themselves, ultimate- 



ly and finally and at no distant day, to 
to make that statement good. I right appreciation of things. Such a time 
Mr. Riddle -Ah, sir, the gentlenan as- p.h that will overtake, if it has not already 
BptreH U) the first place in our State , and overtaken the popular sentiment. The 
the people of Ohio, who stand i time shall come when ttieso 
by thi- Governmeni, will find some shall be faijly met before the 
Worthy exponent, of llieir viewF ; they will They have no motive to be wrong, and are 



Mrtiiialy oppo-^e to him aorac able tind ex 
perienced man fully rej-resenting their 
*iewH. In niv hl'jli character as a private 
citizen, I ehull ai all times b< 
diucuHS the rjucstions with the gentiemiin 
anywhere and everywhere; and lean as- 
sure him that h- «hall ijc me* ; he sluill be 
uifi fnirly; he shall bo met manfully ; lie 
Rkall be mot with the (j-aalltution ; ho ol-all 
ho m'-t wiihtha laws; ho shall be met with 



issues 
people. 



too wise to be far misled. These great is- 
sues shall bo fairly discussed ; they will 
be understood; and a rigLtuous judgment 
happy to 1 shall award to the gonllenion as to our- 
selves, that award which the pale-browed 
and deep-eyed student of future hi.'flory 
shall not reverse; nnd to that uward of 
the people, and to that confirming award 
of future history, so far as my" humble 
conduct i.) concerned in these isBiics, 1 am 



historical incidenlfl; he ehall bo met with ib undantly content to submit them. 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 




